Child verse; poems grave and gay

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Child Verse : Poems Grave and Gay

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\fima\l7Maynard &Comtiarw. \
■j Boston 1899 I ^^

',•/•'.,',. i r '•>» r», i '»i J / ^\

Copyright, i8gg
By Sjnall, Maynard & Company

{Incorporated.)

Efitered at Stationers' Hall

The Rockwell and Churchill Press
Boston y U.S. A,

TO

MV LITTLE FRIENTD

fcenri? Dinneen

WITH MY
LOVE AND BLESSING

285768

-l!:^^Si&^^i2I^S^^;^&.

mmiiit^iJmmmmMjmM&um

NOTE

SOME of these verses have
appeared in other places:
one in St. Nicholas, one in
Harper's Young People; a}td
the Sunday School Times,
the Youth's Companion, and
the Independent have each
published others. To this
class belong, I think, all I re-
print from my Poems and
Lyrics. Most of the contents,
howevery is new.

J. B. T.

Child Verse

CONTENTS

PAGE

Hare-bells

3

At Cock-Crow

4

A Duet

S

The Bobolink

6

The Bluebird

7

The Woodpecker

8

Chimney Stacks

9

Butterfly

lO

The Honey Bee

11

The Bee and the Blossoms

12

The Tax-Gatherer

13

Jack-o'-Lantern

H

The Pleiads

15

Jack Frost's Apology

16

A Cavalcade

17

Child Verse

Silk

r-AGtt

i8

Seed-Tirae

19

A Legacy

20

Amid the Roses

21

Light and Shadow-

22

Sleep

23

The Fire-Fly

24

The Dragon-Fly

25

Archery

26

A Spy

27

A Lament

28

Fern Song

29

The Brook

30

An Interview

31

Baby's Dimples

32

A Bunch of Roses

33

Foot-Soldiers

34

Child Verse

PAGX

The Baby's Star

35

Slumber-Song

36

An Idolater

37

The New-Year Babe

38

Bicycles ! Tricycles

40

High and Low

41

Doctor Tumble-Bug

42

Close Quarters

43

The Time-Brood

44

Pains-Taking

45

A Rub

46

Cats

47

An Insectarian

48

The Squirrel

49

Hospitality

50

Frog Making

51

The Tree-Frog Pedigree

52

Child Verse

PAGE

An Explanation

53

The Parlour and the Fly

54

No Go

55

A Mouse, A Cat, and an Irish Bull

56

The Same with a Difference

57

An Inconvenience

58

The Tryst

59

Etiquette

60

A Sunstroke

61

A Shuffle

62

Washington's Ruse

63

Panic

64

The End of It

65

A Little Child's Prayers

66

The Child: At Bethlehem

67

To His Mother

68

A Lily of the Field

69

Child Verse

The Lamb-Child 70

A Pair of Turtle-Doves 71

Hide-and-Seek 72

Out of Bounds 73

The Child on Calvary 74

The Child: At Nazareth 75

St. Theresa and the Child 77

Tradition 78

CHILD VERSE

» , » , ' », >.

CHILD VERSE

HARE-BELLS

T3 ING ! The little Rabbits' eyes,
-■^^ In the morning clear,
Moisten to the melodies
They alone can hear.

Ring ! The little Rabbits' feet.

Shod with racing rhyme.
If the breezes they would beat,

Must be beating time.

Ring ! When summer days are o'er,

And the snowfalls come,
Rabbits count the hours no more,

For the bells are dumb.

Child Verse

AT COCK-CROW

/'^ROW ! For the night has thrice denied
^^ The glory of the Sun,
And now, repentant, turns aside
To weep what he has done.

Child Verse

A DUET
A LITTLE yellow Bird above,
-^^ A little yellow Flower below;
The little Bird can sing the love
That Bird and Blossom know ;
The Blossom has no song nor wing,
But breathes the love he cannot sing.

Child Verse

THE BOBOLINK

A/'OUR notes are few,
^ But sweet your song

As honey-dew;

And all day long.
Dear Bobolink, a-listening,
I never tire to hear you sing.

H

Child Verse

THE BLUEBIRD
T 1 /"HEN God had made a host of them,
^ ^ One little flower still lacked a stem
To hold its blossom blue ;
So into it He breathed a song,
And suddenly, with petals strong
As wings, away it flew.

Child Verse

THE WOODPECKER
nPHE wizard of the woods is he ;

-^ For in his daily round,
Where'er he finds a rotting tree,
He makes the timber sound.

Child Verse

CHIMNEY STACKS

TN winter's cold and summer's heat
•^ The hospitable chimneys greet

Their never-failing guests ;
For when the sparks are upward gone,
The swallows downward come anon,

To build their neighboring nests.

Child Verse

BUTTERFLY

T)UTTERFLY, Butterfly, sipping the
-■^ sand,

Have you forgotten the flowers of the land ?
Or are you so sated with honey and dew
That sand-filtered water tastes better to you ?

lo

Child Verse

o

THE HONEY-BEE

BEE, good-by !

Your weapon's gone,
And you anon
Are doomed to die ;
But Death to you can bring
No second sting.

1 1

Child Verse

THE BEE AND THE BLOSSOMS

'*^"\ T'HY stand ye idle, blossoms bright,
^ ^ The livelong summer day?^'

*' Alas ! we labour all the night
For what thou takest away."

12

«tt

Child Verse

THE TAX-GATHERER

*' \ ND pray, who are you ? "

-^^ Said the violet blue
To the Bee, with surprise
At his wonderful size,
In her eye-glass of dew.

'' I, madam," quoth he,
" Am a publican Bee,
Collecting the tax
On honey and wax.
Have you nothing for me?"

13

Child Verse

JACK-O'-LANTERN

JACK-0-LANTERN, Jack-o'-Lantern,
Tell me where you hide by day ? "
" In the cradle where the vapours
Dream the sunlit hours away."

" Jack-o '-Lantern, Jack-o'-Lantern,
Who rekindles you at night?"

" Any firefly in the meadow
Lends a Jack-o'-Lantern light."

H

Child Verse

THE PLEIADS

"1 ^ THO are ye with clustered light,
^ ^ Little Sisters seven ? "
" Crickets, chirping all the night
On the hearth of heaven/'

IS

Child Verse

JACK FROST'S APOLOGY

TO strip you of your foliage
My spirit sorely grieves ;
Nor will I in the work engage
Unless you grant your leaves.

i6

Child Verse

A CAVALCADE

T^H ISTLE-DOWN, Thistle-down,
•^ whither away?
Will you not longer abide ? "
Nay, we have wedded the winds to-day.
And home with the rovers we ride."

17

Child Verse

SILK

' T^WAS the shroud of many a worm-like

-*- thing
That rose from its tangled skein ;
'Twas the garb of many a god-like king
Who went to the worms again.

Child Verse

SEED-TIME

A X /"HEN Trumpet-flowers begin to blow

The Thistle<lowns take heed,
For then they know 'tis time to go
And plant the wingfed seed.

19

Child Verse

A LEGACY

T^O you remember, little cloud,
^-^ This morning when you lay —
A mist along the river — what
The waters had to say?

And how the many-coloured flowers
That on the margin grew,

All promised when the day was done
To leave their tints to you ?

20

Child Verse

AMID THE ROSES

" I "HERE was laughter 'mid the Roses,

^ For it was their natal day ;
And the children in the garden were
As light of heart as they.

There were sighs amid the Roses,
For the night was coming on ;

And the children — weary now of play —
Were ready to be gone.

There are tears amid the Roses,

For the children are asleep ;
And the silence of the garden makes

The lonely blossoms weep.

21

Child Verse

I

LIGHT AND SHADOW

LOVE you, little maid,"
Said the Sunbeam to the Shade,
As all day long she shrank away before him;
But at twilight, ere he died,
She was weeping at his side ;
And he felt her tresses softly trailing o^er him.

22

Child Verse

SLEEP

WHEN he is a little chap,
We call him Nap.
When he somewhat older grows,

We call him Doze.
When his age by hours we number,
We call him Slumber.

23

Child Verse

THE FIRE-FLY

'* A RE you flying through the night
-^^^ Looking where to find me ? "
" Nay ; I travel with a light
For the folks behind me."

24

^^;

Child Verse

THE DRAGON-FLY

" TS skimming o'er a stagnant pool

-^ Your only occupation ? "
" Ah, no : 'tis at this Summer School
I get my education."

Child Verse

ARCHERY

A BOW across the sky
"^■^ Another in the river,
Whence swallows upward fly,
Like arrows from a quiver.

26

Child Verse

A SPY

OIGHED the languid Moon to the Morn-
*^ ing Star :

"O little maid, how late you are !"
" I couldn't rise from my couch," quoth she,
'' While the Man-in-the-Moon was looking at
me.

27

Child Verse

A LAMENT

'/^ LADY CLOUD, why are you weep-

^^ ing? " I said.
" Because," she made answer, *' my rain-beau
is dead."

Child Verse

FERN SONG

DANCE to the beat of the rain, little
Fern,
And spread out your palms again,

And say, *' Tho' the sun

Hath my vesture spun,
He had laboured, alas, in vain,

But for the shade

That the Cloud hath made.
And the gift of the Dew and the Rain."

Then laugh and upturn

All your fronds, little Fern,
And rejoice in the beat of the rain !

29

Child Verse

THE BROOK

TT is the mountain to the sea
-■- That makes a messenger of me ;
And, lest I loiter on the way
And lose what I am sent to say,
He sets his reverie to song,
And bids me sing it all day long.
Farewell ! for here the stream is slow.
And I have many a mile to go.

30

Child Verse

AN INTERVIEW

T SAT with chill December
■^ Beside the evening fire.
" And what do you remember,"

I ventured to inquire,
" Of seasons long forsaken ? "

He answered in amaze,
" My age you have mistaken ;

I've lived but thirty days!'

31

Child Verse

BABY'S DIMPLES

T OVE goes playing hide-and-seek
-*-^ 'Mid the roses on her cheek,
With a little imp of Laughter,
Who, the while he follows after,
Leaves the footprints that we trace
Ail about the Kissing-place.

i2

Child Verse

A BUNCH OF ROSES

THE rosy mouth and rosy toe
Of little baby brother
Until about a month ago

Had never met each other ;
But nowadays the neighbours sweet,

In every sort of weather,
Half way with rosy fingers meet.
To kiss and play together.

33

Child Verse

FOOT-SOLDIERS

' nriS all the way to Toe-town,
■^ Beyond the Knee-high hill,
That Baby has to travel down
To see the soldiers drill.

One, two, three, four, five, a-row —
A captain and his men —

And on the other side, you know.
Are six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

34

Child Verse

THE BABY'S STAR

nPHE Star that watched you in your sleep

^ Has just put out his light.
*' Good-day, to you on earth," he said,
"Is here in heaven Good-night.

'' But tell the Baby when he wakes

To watch for my return ;
For rU hang out my lamp again

When his begins to burn."

35

Child Verse

SLUMBER-SONG

O, in the west
A cloud at rest —
A babe upon its mother's breast
Is sleeping now.

L*

Above it beams
A star that seems
To shed the light of holy dreams
Upon its brow.

But cloud and star,
Tho' nearer far
They seem, my Babe, more distant are
From heaven than thou.

36

Child Verse

AN IDOLATER

'^ T "HE Baby has no skies
-■- But Mother's eyes,

Nor any God above

But Mother's Love.
His angel sees the Father^s face,
But he the Mother's, full of grace ;
And yet the heavenly kingdom is

Of such as this.

17

Child Verse

THE NEW-YEAR BABE

'T^WO together, Babe and Year,

^ At the midnight chime,
Through the darkness drifted here
To the coast of Time.

Two together, Babe and Year,

Over night and day,
Crossed the desert Winter drear

To the land of May.

On together, Babe and Year
Swift to Summer passed.

'' Rest a moment, Brother dear,"
Said the Babe at last.

38

Child Verse

" Nay, but onward," answered Year,

'' We must farther go,
Through the Vale of Autumn sere

To the Mount of Snow."

Toiling upward. Babe and Year
Climbed the frozen height.

" We may rest together here,
Brother Babe, — Good-night ! "

Then together Babe and Year

Slept ; but ere the dawn,
Vanishing, I know not where.

Brother Year was gone !

39

Child Verse

BICYCLES! TRICYCLES!

T3ICYCLES! Tricycles! Nay, to shun
^-^ laughter,

Try cycles first, and duy cycles after ;
For surely the buyer deserves but the worst
Who would buy cycles, failing to try cycles
first.

40

Child Verse

HIGH AND LOW

A BOOT and a Shoe and a Slipper
-^^ Lived once in the Cobbler's row :

But the Boot and the Shoe

Would have nothing to do
With the Slipper, because she was low.

But the king and the queen and their

daughter
On the Cobbler chanced to call ;

And as neither the Boot

Nor the Shoe would suit
The Slipper went off to the ball.

4i

Child Verse

DOCTOR TUMBLE-BUG

^7[ HTH wondrous skill
^ ^ He works until,

To suit himself, he makes it
A patent Pill,
To cure or kill

The sufferer that takes it.

42

ilk

d

Child Verse

CLOSE QUARTERS

T ITTLE toe, big toe, three toes between,
-■^^ All in a pointed shoe !
Never was narrower forecastle seen
Nor so little room for the crew.

43

Child Verse

THE TIME-BROOD

T WONDER how the mother-Hour
^ Can feed each hungry Minute,
And see that every one of them
Gets sixty seconds in it;

And whether, when she goes abroad,
She knows which ones attend her ;

For all of them are just alike
In age and size and gender.

+4

Child Verse

PAINS-TAKING

TAKE pains," growled the Tooth to the
Dentist ;
'' The same," said the Dentist, '' to you."
Then he added, '' No doubt.
Before you are out
You'll have taken most pains of the two."

45

Child Verse

A RUB

WIXT Handkerchief and Nose

A difference arose ;

And a tradition goes

That they settled it by blows.

T

46

Child Verse

CATS

T^HEY fought like demons of the night

■^ Beneath a shrunken moon,
And all the roof at dawn of light
y<!\\\i fiddle-strings was strewn.

47

I

Sarumtkhk'.
For icM the FVra
War fmi ar

^OObk

~- - ::_^ :rrel

^ Aad dD ym twist

To

-;ist yxm sot Ike
ire yom ^f(t ffOM

Child Verse

HOSPITALITY

^AID a Snake to a Frog with a wrinkled
*^ skin,

"As I notice, dear, that your dress is thin,
And a yain is coming, I'll take you in."

50

MHMlMiHHttiiMiMnfiiMiMii

Child Verse

FROG-MAKING

O AID Frog papa to Frog* mamma,
^^ *' Where is our little daughter ? "
Said Frog mamma to Frog papa,
" She's underneath the water/'

Then down the anxious father went.
And there, indeed, he found her,

A-tickling tadpoles, till they kicked
Their tails off all around her.

SI

Child Verse

THE TREE-FROG PEDIGREE
/^UR great ancestor, Polly Wog,
^-^ With her cousin, Thaddeus Pole,
Eloped from her home in an Irish bog,
And crossing the sea on the " Mayflower's "

log.
At the risk of body and soul,
Married a Frog ; and thus, you see,
How we come by a place in the family-tree
And the family name, Tree-frog.

52

Child Verse

AN EXPLANATION

' I ^O the young lady Toad said her mother,

^ '' How had you the boldness, my dear,
To propose to Miss Polliwog's brother? "
''Why, mamma," she replied, "'tis leap
year!

53

Child Verse

THE PARLOUR AND THE FLY

"T 1 HLL you walk into the Spider?"

^ ^ Said the Parlour to the Fly;
" He's the emptiest little spider
That ever you did spy.

" And he covers me with cobweb ;

So I want you to go in ;
For — his lower chamber furnished —

He will have no room to spin."

5+

Child Verse

NO GO .

O AID a simpering Butterfly, sipping a rose,
*^ To a graceless Mosquito on grand-
papa's nose.
Whom she hoped to entrap,
'* Pray come. Sir, and taste of this delicate

stuff."
" Thanks, Madam, I'm just now taking my
snuff,"
Quoth the impudent chap.

5>

Child Verse

A MOUSE, A CAT, AND AN IRISH

BULL

A LITTLE mouse nibbled a Limburger
-^^^ cheese,

And back to his bedchamber stole,
Whence never again was he destined to
squeeze.
For the smell was too large for the hole.

And a Pussy Cat, passing, instinctively stood ;

For her appetite urged her to try it;
But she answered her stomach that grumbled
for food,

*' I should die if I lived on such diet."

56

Child Verse

THE SAME WITH A DIFFERENCE

^11 /"HEN first they wed he was a sing-er,
^ ^ And much delight his songs did
bring her;
But nowadays he proves a sin-ger,
And makes it hot for her as ginger.

57

Child Verse

AN INCONVENIENCE

nnO his cousin the Bat

-^ Squeaked the envious Rat,
" How fine to be able to fly ! "
Tittered she, '' Leather wings
Are convenient things ;
But nothing /o sit on have I."

58

Child Verse

THE TRYST

ipOTATO was deep in the dark under
^ ground,

Tomato, above in the light.
The little Tomato was ruddy and round,

The little Potato was white.

And redder and redder she rounded above,

And paler and paler he grew,
And neither suspected a mutual love

Till they met in a Brunswick stew.

59

Child Verse

ETIQUETTE
LONG," said the new-gathered Lettuce,

I

" To meet our illustrious guest."
Cried the Caster, '' Such haste
Is in very bad taste :
See first that you're properly dressed!'

60

Child Verse

A SUNSTROKE

nPHE Sun courted Water,
^ Earth's loveHest daughter,
And strove to abduct her in vain :

For, when he had caught her.
And to the clouds brought her,
Home she came running in rain.

6i

Child Verse

A SHUFFLE

" I ^HERE was a rumpus in the Pack,
■*" Whereof the King and Queen and Jack

Were playing knavish parts.
On Club and Spade was put the blame ;
But these asserted ^twas a game

Of Diamonds and Hearts.

62

Child Verse

WASHINGTON'S RUSE

'\ ^ 7HEN Georgie would not go to bed,

^ '^ If some one asked him why,
" What is the use ? " he gravely said,
" You know I cannot lie."

63

Child Verse

PANIC

TT struck the signs of the Zodiac,
-■" Around the immovable Man
Who stands in front of the Almanack
To show his interior plan.

The Scorpion attacked the Bull,

The Bull aroused the Lion ;

The Crab by their tails

Flung the Fish in the Scales,

Where they floundered as on a gridiron;

The Billy Goat went for the Gemini twins ;

The Ram made a rush at Aquarius ;

And a narrow escape had the Virgo's shins

From the shaft of her beau Sagittarius.

"64 ~

Child Verse

THE END OF IT

A WHOLE-TAIL dog, and a half-tail
dog,
And a dog without a tail,
Went all three out on an autumn day
To follow a red-fox trail.

But the dogs that carried their tails along

Fell out, it is said, by the way ;
And the loss of a tail and a half at the end

Of the dogs put an end to the fray.

When each, as a morsel sweet, gulped down
What had late been a neighbor's pride,

" You've kept your tails," laughed the no-tail
dog,
" But you wear them now inside''

65 ~

Child Verse

A LITTLE CHILD'S PRAYERS

I

A /TAKE me, dear Lord, polite and kind
^^-^ To every one, I pray ;
And may I ask you how you find
Yourself, dear Lord, to-day?

II

Lord, I have lost a toy

With which I love to play;
And as you were yourself a boy

Of just my age to-day,
O Son of Mary, would you mind
To help me now my toy to find ?

66

^^^^^1^

Child Verse

THE CHILD

AT BETHLEHEM
I

T ONG, long before the Babe could speak,
^-^ When he would kiss his mother's cheek

And to her bosom press,
The brightest angels, standing near,
Would turn away to hide a tear,

For they are motherless.

H

Where were ye, Birds, that bless His name,
When wingless to the world He came,
And wordless, — tho' Himself the Word
That made the blossom and the bird ?

67

Child Verse

III

TO HIS MOTHER

He brought a Lily white,
That bowed its fragrant head
And blushed a rosy red
Before her fairer light.

He brought a Rose; and lo,
The crimson blossom saw
Her beauty; and in awe
Became as white as snow.

68

Child Verse

A LILY OF THE FIELD

TN all his glory, Solomon
^ Was never so arrayed ;
Yet far more beautiful is one —

A MOTHER and a MAID —
Whose loveliness and lowliness
God stooped from highest heaven to bless.

69

Child Verse

THE LAMB-CHILD

T 1 fHEN Christ the Babe was born,

^ ^ Full many a little lamb,
Upon the wintr}^ hills forlorn,
Was nestled near its dam ;

And, waking or asleep,

Upon His mothers breast,
For love of her, each mother-sheep

And baby-lamb He blessed.

70

Child Verse

A PAIR OF TURTLE-DOVES

THE PURIFICATION

\ ^ /"HERE, woman, is thine offering
^ ^ The debt of law and love ? "
" My Babe a tender nestling is,
And I the mother-dov^e."

7^

Child Verse

HIDE-AND-SEEK

\/'0U hid your little self, dear Lord,
^ As other children do ;
But oh, how great was their reward
Who sought three days for you !

72

Child Verse

OUT OF BOUNDS

A LITTLE Boy, of heavenly birth,
But far from home to-day,
Comes down to find His ball, the Earth,

That Sin has cast away.
O comrades, let us one and all
Join in to get Him back His ball.

73

Child Verse

THE CHILD ON CALVARY

T^HE Cross is tall,

•^ And I too small

To reach His hand

Or touch His feet;

But on the sand
His footprints I have found,

And it is sweet
To kiss the holy ground.

74

Child Verse

THE CHILD

AT NAZARETH
I

ONCE, measuring His height, He stood
Beneath a cypress-tree,
And, leaning back against the wood,

Stretched wide His arms for me ;
Whereat a brooding mother-dove
Fled fluttering from her nest above.

n

At evening He loved to walk
Among the shadowy hills, and talk
Of Bethlehem ;
But if perchance there passed us by

75

Child Verse

The paschal lambs, He^ look at them

In silence, long and tenderly ;
And when again He'd try to speak,
IVe seen the tears upon His cheek.

76

Child Verse

ST. THERESA AND THE CHILD

•'TimO art thou, son?" The little

' ^ stranger smiled,

" And who art ^/loti ? " Whereto she made
reply,
"Theresa I of Jesus am, my child."

He — radiant — *' Jesus of Theresa I."

n

Child Verse

TRADITION

\ 1^ TTlEN home our blessed Lord was gone,

^ ^ His mother lived alone with John ;
For each had secrets to impart
That Love had taught them both dy heart.

78

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